(PHOTO GRABBED FROM GOOGLE MAPS)
CEBU CITY, Philippines — A 54-year-old man accused of raping his niece in 2008 was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest on Thursday afternoon, September 16, 2021, in Sitio Nangka, Barangay Tungasan, Olango Island in Lapu-Lapu City.
Hon. Jose Alfonso Maliper Gomos, Presiding Judge, Family Court, Branch 5 of Lapu-Lapu City issued the warrant of arrest against the suspect for the crime of 23 counts of Qualified Rape last September 15, 2021, with no bail recommended.
CDN Digital is withholding the suspect’s name for the protection of the victim’s identity.
For now, the accused is currently detained at Police Station 1 in Lapu-Lapu City located in Olango Island as they wait for the order from the court following the return of the issued Warrant of Arrest.
Police Lieutenant Zosimo Ravanes, team leader of the Anti-Kidnapping Group Visayas Field Unit, said the suspect denied the accusations and revealed that the reason of the complaint may have been because of a recent misunderstanding he had with the victim.
“Naka-away sad na nila ang biktima kay tapad raman ni silag balay unya naggamit og kuryente sa ilaha, gibawalan nila, gitangtangan nilag kuryente. Didto na nagsugod ang away nila, gipasanginlan lang daw,” Ravanes said.
(They had a misunderstanding with the victim since their houses are beside each other and they share the source of electricity. As a result, they prohibited the victim to connect and use their electricity. That started their fight, and he was only accused [of rape].)
But Ravanes said he also talked with the barangay councilor there and the latter told him that even before the victim filed a complaint, they already heard about the rape accusations. The councilor said this happened during the days when the victim and her younger brother stayed with their uncle.
Quoting the background of the case, Ravanes said that the victim was eight years old when the crime was allegedly committed. This allegedly lasted for around two years, from 2008 to 2010. The victim reportedly remembered 22 times that her uncle raped her.
“She stayed in [uncle’s house] since her father, at that time, was jailed. Her mother abandoned them when she was still three years old together with her younger brother,” Ravanes said in Cebuano language.
The victim also claimed that her uncle told her he will kill her brother if she speaks about the molestation.
The now 21-year-old victim filed the complaint against her uncle, who is said to be a scrap buyer, last April 2021.
/bmjo
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